The Good
Review Version: v1.0
Review Date: April 6, 2009.
Review Length: 8 (eight) pages.
Tech Specs Used: Intel Core 2 6300 1.86 Ghz CPU, 1 (and) 3 GB Memory, 512 MB NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT Video Card.

Game Version: v3.0
Game Difficulty Used: Hard.
Preferred Class: Scholar; Married to a Craftsman (er…woman).
Preferred Religion: Catholic.
Preferred Scenario: Republic of Venice.
Preferred Opposing Families: 12 (11 excluding yourself).
Highest Political Rank Attained: Councilor.
Last time played: April, 2009.
Finished: No, due to bugs.

If you ever wanted a game that combined the strategy and RPG genre, with a touch of trading and politics, then the avid gamer should look no further (or at least someone let me know if there is more of this kind of game!). The game represents a unique style of gameplay, and as this is my first encounter with the Guild series, it has thus far given me (as long as its not related to bugs) positive impressions. So, here goes:

Introduction [For those who have never played the game before]

The Familia – A Venetian RPG
The Guild 2: Venice lets you play the role of a family in Venice, where you control each and every individual in the family if you choose to do so. The first influence you notice in the game is the RPG elements, where you must first create a character to lead your family. Then you must characterize him/her with a specified class, a zodiac (Yay!) and a set of talents.

The classes represented are the rogue, the craftsman, the scholar, and the patron. Each class effects how you obtain money, either from robbing others for the rogue, or creating goods which you can later sell at the market for the other classes. Each class also limits the purchase or building of structures your hero has access to. A craftsman, for example may not purchase or build structures unique to the patron class. Access to other class special buildings however, may be done so through marrying a person with a different class or by assigning your children to a specific class later in the game.

Here’s an overview of the available classes:

• Rogue
  The Rogue is the only class that does not produce goods. Why? Well, simply why waste time creating goods when you can just steal them from the merchants? Rogues unique abilities such as pick pocketing and burglary, unavailable to other classes. Rogues committing in such shady activates oddly enough do not invoke the wrath of the city guards compared to other classes, maybe because they’re better in stealth or maybe the pirate wenches keep them busy enough not to notice; nevertheless, the rogue may he/she be a burglar, a pickpocket or a daylight mugger is considered an official profession whose activities only frustrate the intended victims.
• The Patron
  The Patron is the backbone of the food industry and all services related to it. From farms to taverns, the patron produces essential materials needed by other classes, while maintaining their own set of specific food products for sale.
• The Craftsman
  The Craftsman represents the manufacturing industry, anything from basic weapons, clothes, armor and furniture comes from them. The basic materials needed to construct them also are specifically designated to them such as wood via woodcutters lodge and metals from a mine. Needless to say, the Craftsman provides an extremely profitable opportunity to increase one’s wealth.
• The Scholar
  The intellectual elite specialize in the more complex activities in the city, may it be as an alchemist, a medicus or a priest, their services and goods are highly sought for, as the potions they produce have an interesting affect on other people…particularly those involved in politics. Mages are also rumored to participate in demonic rituals…

Talents represent specific attributes that affect how your character(s) operate throughout the game. Dexterity for example allows your character to move faster as well as hit or dodge successfully in combat. Rhetoric allows better chances in politics, such as speeches, bribing and other forms of political conversation. Attributes may be increased as you level up your character. Certain actions allow your character to gain experience, such as gaining a political position, bribing someone, or simply creating goods at your workshop.

Additionally, as your character(s) level up, they may gain access to unique skills similar to a bonus talent, but with more specific uses (read=perk). For example, a 3rd level character may acquire the Deep Sleep skill, which allows your character to heal more health points when they sleep.

The Economy – Introduction to Venetian trade strategies
As in real life, one cannot get by without money. Only question that remains is how to get more money than the other bloke. Most classes, excluding the rogue, have workshops that specifically allow the character to produce goods. First, the workshop must have the basic materials to create a certain product. A smith trying to create a dagger at a foundry for example requires a sufficient amount of charcoal and iron. The smith then requires a certain amount of time to manufacture the product, after which the product if the player chooses to do so, may be sold at the local market or directly from the workshop.

At the start of the game, the player has no buildings accessible except the place of residence. The player must then decide to build a new place of business or purchase a pre-existing building available for sale. Needless to say, location is an extremely important consideration, putting mind the distance between the shop, the market, accessible resources and sometimes the travel route of the city guards!

Markets are subject the basic law of economics: the more supply, the cheaper the goods. Thus, it may be wise to stock up products you have until price of a particular good has risen again. Depending on which scenario you play, there may be one or more markets available to the player. Scenarios with more markets, allow a more versatile form of trading, with the only downside of your transports traveling a bit more to reach other markets (additionally, they may get robbed along the way!).

There are also more lucrative forms of trading, by buying goods from an outhouse located far from Venice. It is however, an equally expensive investment at the start, requiring the player to purchase or build a storehouse, build a ship, then purchase the goods from the outhouse and finally selling the goods for a lucrative profit at the local markets.

Lastly, there also seems to be methods to obtain money by fulfilling requests from the Trade Guild. Although, I personally haven’t tried it myself as it seems to be a bit complicated.

Politics – The harsh world of Venetian Politics
The probably most unique aspect of the game is the introduction of politics above the basic economic game play. Politics is optional in the game, meaning you may or may not choose to participate. Participating however, introduces an extremely wider and complex version of gameplay than simply trading and breeding :p.

Politics require the player to spend a certain amount of money in order to obtain an annual income of money. To do so, the player must purchase a title of nobility and later apply (which also requires the player to pay) for an office, both at the City Council building. While purchasing a title of nobility is automatic, the application of an office requires more direct intervention from the player for a successful bid.

The city council calls for a meeting every 4 years (or one day actual gameplay) to establish the next city officials. Certain officials may vote one of the applicants applying for a particular office. The applicant with the most votes wins the office. Or if a votes end with a tie (or abstains), then the applicant is randomly picked.

Each person has a “relationship-meter”, a person who likes you will be more inclined to vote for you than a person that does not. Here, the player must ensure that the officials having the authority to vote on a particular office will choose him/her when the council meeting commences, by increasing this “relationship-meter”. This may be done before or during the council meeting, either by bribing continuously, flirting (if the opposite sex), giving gifts or other forms of “intimidation” such as threatening or blackmailing. Persuasion during the council meeting is a bit restricting, as you may only “persuade” a number of times and wait for the action to recharge.

Successfully obtaining a title, will grant the player unique official abilities as well as a steady income. The Bishop for example, has the ability to “forgive sins”, increasing the relationship of the Bishop and the “sinner” while also eliminating the crimes the sinner may have committed. The Bishop may also send informants to question the passerby for information, in the form of crimes committed by other families. Each title represents a unique skill, special actions, or access to special employees.

The Law
Another additional twist in Venetian politics is the process of upholding justice…or more precisely, individual interest. Sooner or later, the player may involve him/herself in criminal activities or gain knowledge of the criminal activities or other players. Depending on what the activity is, it may invoke the wrath of the city guards, or may be used by other players or yourself to bring a particular individual (yourself included) to a court of law.

If the city has a magistrate, the player may officially accuse a person by applying for trial at the council building. A date is set, and then the accuser must “persuade” the presiding judges to punish the accused, again this also is affected on how well the judges like you. If the majority of the 3 judges vote in favor of the accuser, the accused depending on the demands of the accuser may be charged with anything from a fee to a public execution. Different criminal activities will influence the judges more than others. Murder for example, is the highest criminal offence compared to attacking a cart. Information on the strength of evidence, believability of the evidence and the rhetorical skills of the accuser/accused/judges are also considerations in the legal outcome.

Suffice to say, the game presents an extremely diverse form of gameplay, if the player chooses to do so. May it be in the form of trading and manufacturing, politics, crime, or even starting a feud with another family in a bid for power (or just for fun).

The 3D graphics if set to the fullest settings, offer a beautiful Venetian atmosphere, displaying detailed Italian buildings, ocean scenery and an active population of scheming Venetians.

Endnote, the music in the game is absolutely fantastic. Gameplay is extremely supported by the beautiful musical compositions of that era.

The Bad
Enchanting Venice is infested with bugs and unstable building designs!

I extremely like this game; however there are certain sins that I consider totally unforgivable which is why the title represents a negative vibe than a positive one. But I’ll start with the minor faults of the game first:

Timeframe
Not quite sure what the developer had in mind when creating the timeframe of the game, except maybe allowing the player to create more families/dynasties than he/she may actually want. :p

The timeframe is ridiculously fast. One game day consists of 24 hours. However, after the one day ends, suddenly 1 season and 4 years past! Now, why is this a problem, one asks?

• Characters Age Too Fast
  One irritating fact is that your leader starts at the age of 18 and later finds that he aged a couple of years before he even reached the next building (duh). It takes me around a couple of days just to find and court a suitable wife, which in-game means it took me around 8 blasted years (and 2 seasons :p)…since your wife-to-be like to sleep for 3 years (double-duh).
• Politically Hectic Life-Style
  Another consequence of this one-day-four-years time frame is that one political term equals one day. This means that you have to vote each day to maintain your position on the council. It really doesn’t give you much time to leisurely enjoy the game, between politics, breeding, maintaining a shop, and butchering your competition with henchmen, every second (literally) counts. It actually feels like real life at work, and that is something you don’t want to re-live in a game, unless you really have no life to begin with.

I have this gut feeling that one day was supposed to advance only for one season. Since it’s quite odd that it would progress 4 years and one season. If it was intentional, then I believe it’s a really stupid idea from the developer’s part. If it wasn’t, then its sloppy quality assurance, which is a bit abundant in the game. More on that later.

Movement AI
A couple of problematic issues in the game when it comes to anything that has to do with moving your character. The first thing is the “path-finding AI”, how the character finds his/her path to a selected designation. One of the things you first notice is that your character sometimes likes a non direct route, or likes to circle a building a bit before entering it. This is more noticeable when entering your residence. The character, in my case always seems to enter through the backdoor…the backdoor that coincidently, doesn’t exist. I hate eye-candy.

One of the most irritating features in movement occurs during combat. Firstly, if attacked, your character suddenly moves extremely slow (the developers bid to actually force the characters to combat…blah). Now, when you’re on your way to council meeting, you simply don’t have time to show-off those Jet Li moves to those sexually frustrated bandits, so you simply want to run away. Now, running away is quite problematic, first as you suddenly find yourself in slow motion, second, the “combat” action icon keeps showing up after several seconds forcing the character to fight instead of running away like you wanted him to do.

I personally find it quite irritating when my character is forced to participate in activities that I don’t want him to be involved in. When I’m forcing my character to move to a certain designation (usually council meetings) I really don’t want him to accept bribes and gifts along the way, especially when the council doors are about to close. Even worse, you can’t cancel, ignore, or simply over-ride that action by moving. In case you’re wondering, this is not an attempt to stall the character so they cannot participate in the council meeting, because under normal circumstances, you usually cannot bribe them on the way to a meeting. So, technically it’s a bug.

When this “bug” affects NPCs (Non-Player Characters), they tend to forget that they had to go to the council meeting and wander off (or just stay put). Good if it’s an opponent, bad if it’s an ally whose vote you need.

Yep, It’s Still 3D Eye-Candy
I don’t have a problem with 3D eye-candy. I just have a problem with it when it disrupts game play. Well, I already mentioned that characters don’t like entering a house through the front door (regardless where the door is). Other irritations consist of:

Buildings Overlapping Characters
This usually occurs when thugs are waiting to attack a character or are trying to throw torches at a building. Instead of attacking outside the building, they attack “inside” the building, meaning you have to zoom in past the walls (not entering the building) to see where they are.

Characters Overlapping Characters
Rarely do 3D games ever had this issue solved, when characters bump into a character, they usually just go “through” them instead of bumping into them as it was an obstacle. Although, this does not occur when characters travel, it does occur when they are crowded in tight spots such as council meetings.

This becomes a problem when you want to interact with a character, but another character is literally “in the way.” It really becomes a problem when 2 or more NPCs are standing in the same spot and you need to bribe one of them. Considering that targeting characters in this game is disastrously ineffective (especially during a council meeting), this again only proves some sloppy game testing/quality assurance.

Minor Sloppy Issues
The character just got the verdict from the court that he/she is about to be executed. Do you want to know what they said?

”I got off light there.” or ”It could be worse.”

Nuff said.

Un-Friendly User Interface
The game is complex due to the socio-political intrigues and trade aspects. The interface however, does not help with gameplay. Here’s an example:

Say you want to sell a particular set of goods from your warehouse to the market. Here’s the sequencing:
[1] Click on warehouse;
[2] Click on production icon;
[3] Click on items in warehouse and move them to your means of transportation (e.g. a cart);
[4] Click on warehouse icon again;
[5] Click on cart icon;
[6] Right-click on market icon;
[7] Click on which market you want the cart to be sent;
[8] Click one either (a) Send only (b) Unload (c) Unload and Return icons.
[9] Done.

Yikes. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that there should be an easier way to do this:
[1] Click on warehouse;
[2] Move items to cart;
[3] (Still in warehouse menu) Click on one of the pop-ups indicating what type of send to which market.

Nuff said.

And now for the grand finale:

CORRUPT SAVED GAMES, BUGS, AND JUST DANG IRRITATION
Seriously. If there’s one thing most gamers really dislike is playing for “decades” on a game, save the game and when they load the game, the game crashes while loading, thus a corrupt save game. In my case 70% of my saved games will end up being corrupt. Don’t know why, additionally there’s also a good chance that the game will crash while trying to save the game. It also likes to crash when you try to rename your children, a friend of mine oddly experienced different types of crashes.

Even went as far as re-installing on a different drive (three times), checking whether or not my hard disk had bad sectors on it or not, but to no avail.

The game is actually quite unstable. The minimum RAM requirement of 1 GB is really "minimum." I actually started out using this spec, and boy was this game slow, every time you load, enter a building and even more irritating, those close ups when you interact with a character (and no option where you can ignore it either). Now using 3 GB it’s much better, even though it’s still a tad slow here and there.

I checked the latest patches, the last patch is v3.5 which doesn’t look too good, since with all these bugs, and I’m already using v3.0. I’m a bit paranoid with patches, wondering if a copy protection patch will screw-up my game installation, since be I tried before to install the game on a different directory, and found out I couldn’t save my games. Couldn’t copy my previous saved games either, since their stupid copy protection inhibited me from changing anything in the games’ directory IN MY OWN HARD DRIVE.

So I uninstalled the game, and had to manually remove all their junk from my registry (hate it when they do that) and re-install it again, tweaked my registry a bit, and moved my saved games to the previously non-copy-able copy protected directory, which in case you didn’t notice was IN MY OWN HARD DRIVE ahem.

So much for the copy protection system. Dingbats. :p

The Bottom Line
Endnote, the game is pretty much ambitious and worthy of respect. If it were not for the nasty time frame and @#!@#$!$ corrupt saved games, I would put it on my top game favorite list.

Unfortunately, it isn’t.